Skip to content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 5, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Zoe Crane  020 7527 3044

Items
No. Item

34.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

None.

35.

Declarations of Substitute Members

Minutes:

None.

36.

Declarations of Interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

 

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

 

Minutes:

None.

37.

Minutes of Previous Meeting (to follow)

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED:

That the signing of the minutes be deferred to the next meeting.

38.

Public Questions

Minutes:

Questions from members of the public would be taken during the relevant items.

39.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

None.

40.

Planning Committee Structure scrutiny review - report back pdf icon PDF 270 KB

Minutes:

Victoria Geoghegan, Head of Development Management and Building Control presented the report which updated members on progress on the recommendations of the Regeneration and Employment Review Committee. In the discussion the following points were made.

 

·         The planning committee structure had moved from a geographical based structure to a centralised structure with a main committee and two sub-committees.

·         The public address system in the Council Chamber was not perfect but if those speaking faced the audience and used their microphones, the system was adequate.

·         It was suggested that email notifications to members had a subject title which alerted members to whether there were major or minor applications in their ward.

·         Concern was raised about the length of notification emails. Victoria Geoghegan would look into whether the notification emails could be improved.

·         For the last 3 years approximately 120 applications had been considered by the Planning Committee and Sub-Committees each year.

·         The centralised planning committee structure had improved consistency in decision making.

 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That officers look into whether improvements could be made to the email notifications sent to members.

 

 

41.

Fuel Poverty Scrutiny Review - witness evidence

Minutes:

The committee heard witness evidence from Matilda Allen, Research Fellow, UCL Institute of Health Equity, Fiona Daly, Head of Sustainability, Barts Health NHS Trust and John Kolm-Murray, Seasonal Health and Affordable Warmth Coordinator.

 

In Matilda Allen’s presentation on the Impact of Cold, Damp Homes on Health and Wellbeing – An Inequalities Focus and the discussion, the following points were made:

·         Reducing health inequalities was a matter of fairness and social justice.

·         Action on health inequalities required action across all of the social determinants of health.

·         Action was required to promote sustainability and the fair distribution of health.

·         Reducing health inequalities was vital for the economy and there was a cost associated with inaction.

·         The Marmot Review, which was undertaken by Professor Sir Michael Marmot, had the following objectives: 1) To give every child the best start in life; 2) To enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives; 3) To create fair employment and good work for all; 4) To ensure a healthy standard of living for all; 5) To create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities; 6) To strengthen the role and impact of ill-health provision.

·         The physical impacts of cold, damp and fuel poverty included respiratory problems, circulatory problems and mortality.

·         Visits to GPs for respiratory tract infections increased by up to 19% for every 1 degree drop in temperatures below 5°C.

·         Children living in cold homes were more than twice as likely to suffer respiratory problems than those in warm homes.

·         Deaths from cardiovascular disease in England were 22.9% higher in winter months.

·         Excess winter deaths were almost three times higher in the coldest quarter than in the warmest.

·         The mental health impacts of cold, damp and fuel poverty included anxiety, depression and other mental ill-health.

·         Energy efficiency improvements had been shown to decrease stress, mental illness and improve happiness.

·         Those with bedroom temperatures of 21°C were less likely to experience depression and anxiety than those whose bedrooms were 15°C.

·         28% of young people who lacked affordable warmth had four or more negative mental health symptoms, compared to 4% of young people who had always lived in warm homes. Young people were at a vulnerable age and hormones and studying created stress which could be exacerbated by a lack of affordable warmth.

·         Cold, damp and fuel poverty affected babies weight gain and development, absence from work, children’s educational attainment, emotional wellbeing and resilience and family dietary opportunities and choices which all had health impacts.

·         4% of households were damp. This varied from 10% in the private rented sector to 2% in owner occupied households.

·         8% of those in relative poverty had damp homes and 15% of those who lived in private rented homes were also in poverty.

·         40% of private renters reported experiencing poor insulation or excess cold in the last 12 months.

·         There was increased risk amongst the elderly, children, unemployed and those with long term illnesses or disabilities.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

42.

Community Energy Scrutiny Review - witness evidence

Minutes:

The Committee heard evidence from Reg Platt, Senior Partnerships Manager, OVO Energy.

 

In Reg’s presentation and the discussion the following points were made:

·         OVO was an independent energy supplier which was launched in 2009 and had 440,000 customers. It aimed to have 1 million customers by 2017. It was the 10th fastest growing company in the UK.

·         OVO’s mission was to be the UK’s most trusted energy supplier. It had a high customer satisfaction level, offered competitive pricing and had won a number of awards.

·         The energy supply marker was transforming. In 1997 the ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers shared almost 100% of the market, In Autumn 2014, independent suppliers had a 9% market share and the Citibank prediction was for independent suppliers to have a 30% share of the market by 2020.

·         Councils could use collective switching to reduce energy bills in their borough.

·         If local councils became energy suppliers this could ensure people and businesses paid a fair price for their energy; it could integrate with other energy activities (e.g. energy efficiency, renewable generation and community energy) and maximise their value and it could be self-financing and potentially income generating.

·         This model was independent from national policy and was strongly supported by government.

·         Approximately two thirds of households did not switch and often overpaid significantly when compared with the cheapest prices. Many of these householders were on low incomes and were vulnerable and often they did not switch as they had a mistrust of energy companies and/or did not know how to switch. Local authorities could reach these customers because they were trusted and could engage people through unique channels.

·         Many Islington residents could save up to £300 by switching and customers who used prepayment meters could also save.

·         Councils could become energy suppliers using OVO’s supply licence and back office functions. OVO would act as a platform and councils could choose to migrate from the platform to have a full supply licence.

·         OVO could provide a supply licence and provide services such as customer service and a billing service and the council’s responsibilities would include setting the price, designing the tariff and acquiring customers. All customer facing services could be branded as council partner or co-branded.

·         OVO services could be provided at cost plus a 3% margin and there would be no set up costs.

·         This service was only available to councils, social housing providers and community groups.

·         OVO planned to be at the forefront of the move to smart meters which provided better, real-time data, smarter homes and enabled more customer engagement as well as flexible payments. OVO would remove prepayment meters from those who signed up and were currently using them and replace these with smart meters. These could be used in a similar way to prepayment meters or could be topped up using a phone if the resident had set up a link to their bank account. If the person was a low credit risk, they could be moved onto a standard tariff.

·         OVO  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

43.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 64 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be noted.